You might not think that a searing 1997 French movie about
proletarian unrest in Paris would have a lot in common with an
American western such as Howard Hawks's 1959 classic, Rio
Bravo. In the end, though, they're both about stand-offs.

That French film, Jean-Francois Richet's Crack City,
pitted Gallic blue-collar heroes against the privileged in the same
way that John Wayne faced down the powerful landowners in the Hawks
film. That's how Richet came to direct Assault on Precinct
13. Despite the director's nationality, the film is otherwise
an all-American reworking of the much-imitated Rio Bravo
scenario.

The new film wasn't the first time Hollywood has tried to
re-animate the Rio Bravo story with a contemporary twist. John
Carpenter went there in 1976 with a movie also named Assault on
Precinct 13.

In both the Precinct 13 movies, the action amounts to a
last stand between corrupt police brass and a beleaguered coalition
of good cops and their criminal charges.

In the new version, the bad police elite must kill a criminal
(Laurence Fishburne) before he exposes them in court. Fishburne
forms an uneasy alliance with the troubled station chief, Ethan
Hawke, to fight them off.

"Because Jean-Francois is French I don't think he was
particularly concerned about being political correct and pulling
his punches on hot-button American issues like race or drugs,"
Fishburne says. "Which is why I think the film is very honest and
very unstinting."

The biggest change is the location: Carpenter's original was set
in sunny Los Angeles, while the new version takes place in wintry
Detroit. Rio Bravo takes place in a Texas.

The films even share substance-abuse issues. In Rio
Bravo, Dean Martin is a drunk. In the new film, John
Leguizamo's character, Richter, is whacked out on crystal meth.

"There's a big difference between someone on heroin, or even
cocaine, and someone on crystal meth," Leguizamo says. "They're
much jumpier, tweakier on crystal, so it was a matter of some pride
to me that I got the specific drug reaction down
authentically."

Similarly, Hawke's character is seriously damaged goods. Jake
has been sent to the Siberia of Precinct 13 because of an
undercover meth-dealing sting that went badly wrong. He's in such a
mess that his glamorous shrink from police headquarters (Maria
Bello) is at the station when all hell breaks loose and she has to
learn to shoot. Quickly.

Fishburne became the embodiment of big-screen altriusm after
helping save humanity as Morpheus in the three Matrix movies. Did
he think it was time to play another bad guy?

"I've played a lot of characters like him," Fishburne says.
"I've done some gangsters and I've done some cops, but I hadn't
played this guy. And he's the silent type. At the beginning
everyone in the precinct is trying to figure out what is going on
and he's the only one who's got it figured out.

"Obviously, after The Matrix, it was a case of, 'OK, I
did that. What's next?' I mean, it's always like that, but more so
this time. How do I change it up? How do I keep it interesting for
myself? Well, don't do the same old shit again.

"You can't go looking for another one of those franchises. You
only ever get one of those. You get Stars Wars, you get
Indiana Jones or get The Matrix. I've had my
franchise."

Assault of Precinct 13 was shot in Toronto because of the
cheaper Canadian dollar. It didn't help the budget either that the
director was a relatively unknown Frenchman.

"But you know what?" Fishburne says. "Anyone who saw Crack
City would know that Jean-Francois was going to be perfect for
this job. This film is not an art picture. It's an action movie.
It's fun, kind of sexy and kind of cool."

Fishburne describes Crack City as "the angriest movie I
had ever seen".

"And I thought, 'I don't know if this is a great movie. But I
sure felt something.' It certainly made me think that doing this
one would be a trip."